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Special Exhibition Celebrates Gift of Rhoda Pritzker Collection of Modern British Art to the Yale Center for British Art
modernism and memory: rhoda pritzker and the art of collectingMay 11–August 21, 2016
NEW HAVEN (May 10, 2016)—In celebration of its reopening on May 11, 2016, the Yale
Center for British Art presents a special exhibition highlighting the collection of modern
British art formed by British journalist Rhoda Pritzker (1914–2007). The collection
represents a major gift to the Center from the Libra Foundation, established by the family
of Susan and Nicholas Pritzker. Featuring more than one hundred works of art, mostly
drawn from Rhoda Pritzker’s intensely personal collection, Modernism and Memory:
Rhoda Pritzker and the Art of Collecting also includes loans from the Pritzker family,
presented alongside more than fifty related objects from the Center’s extensive holdings
of twentieth-century British art. This exhibition aims to offer a richer understanding of
Pritzker’s collecting style while showcasing developments in the work of a number of
notable British modern artists.
Born in Manchester, England, Rhoda Pritzker was a writer of witty and gritty
journalism and, as a member by marriage of a Chicago-based family of financiers and
philanthropists, a contributor to many fields of American endeavor. She never lost
touch with her British roots, however, which remain reflected in a singular collection of
twentieth-century British paintings, drawings, and sculpture.
Though works in her collection span the twentieth century, with objects dating from
1903 to 1995, Pritzker was committed to supporting the careers of emerging artists,
and focused primarily on contemporary art from the 1950s and 1960s. In so doing, she
captured early snapshots of the careers of some of the most significant British modern
artists. Loyal to no school, and admiring both abstraction and representation, Pritzker
acquired important works by artists such as Michael Ayrton, Prunella Clough, Alan
Davie, Ivon Hitchens, William Turnbull, and Keith Vaughan. She also occasionally looked
to earlier years, acquiring significant pieces from the beginning of the century, including
Duncan Grant’s portrait Vanessa Bell at Her Easel (1914), Walter Sickert’s portrait
Carolina dell’Acqua (1903–1904), and Gwen John’s Seated Woman in a Broad-Brimmed
Hat (undated).
y a l e c e n t e r f o r b r i t i s h a r t p r e s s r e l e a s e 1080 Chapel StreetP.O. Box 208280
New Haven, Connecticut06520-8280
+1 203 432 2800 f 203 432 9628
Sculpture in the Pritzker collection includes examples of small-scale works by some of the
most significant British artists working at the time, such as Henry Moore and Barbara
Hepworth, as well as early pieces by sculptors who would later achieve international
recognition, such as Kenneth Armitage, Bernard Meadows, Reg Butler, Anthony Caro,
and Eduardo Paolozzi. These sculptures, which include Anthony Caro’s Corner Boy (1956)
and F. E. McWilliam’s Seated Woman with Hat (1953), may comprise the most important
part of Pritzker’s collection, exemplifying her commitment to contemporary art.
Pritzker particularly favored Northern artists, and she amassed an artistically noteworthy
selection of paintings by L. S. Lowry, Alan Lowndes, and Helen Bradley that evoke
scenes recalling Pritzker’s childhood in an industrial conurbation and on the Lancashire
coast. Five works by Lowry that Pritzker held most dear to her heart are showcased in the
exhibition. These paintings depict the eerie emptiness of seaside and rural scenes and the
isolated figure in which this artist, famous for crowd scenes, became interested later in his
career. The exhibition juxtaposes these haunting works with Lowry’s major oil painting
from 1952, The Market Place, which itself exemplifies one of Pritzker’s favorite themes—
scenes of everyday life represented with a sprinkling of humor.
“Pritzker’s collection has a rare and special quality in that she did not chase big names
or objects, did not spend vast amounts of money, and never dogmatically adhered to
any particular trend,” observed Ian Collins, independent curator, writer, and curator of
the exhibition. “Rather, she put together a representative and quietly rich collection that
tells a compelling story of art in Britain after the Second World War and reflects her own
warm, idiosyncratic personality.”
ABOUT RHODA PRITZKER
Rhoda Pritzker’s accomplishments as an art collector grew from her colorful and storied
life experiences. As a hard-news journalist covering the Great Depression in northern
England in 1931, she developed liberal political sympathies. Early in the Second World
War, given the threat of Nazi victory, Pritzker (neé Rhoda Goldberg) fled Britain with
1,600 other travelers on the SS Scythia. This group included celebrity passengers, such as
Roddy McDowall and H. G. Wells, whom she befriended. Upon arriving in the United
States, she worked in a department store and as a blackjack dealer while relaunching her
career in journalism. It was in America that she was introduced to Jack Pritzker of the
Chicago business family that made its fortunes in real estate, manufacturing, industrial
services, and finance. After they married, Rhoda became one of Chicago’s leading social
and philanthropic figures, forging close friendships with iconic influencers such as Eppie
Lederer, better known by her pen name Ann Landers. She acquired the majority of the
work in her collection on regular return visits to England. Her experience, intelligence,
and curiosity led to an eclectic collection of British art, bearing her own highly personal
imprint.
modernism and memoryMay 11–August 21, 2016
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OPENING LECTURE, May 18, 2016 at 5:30 pm
Independent writer and curator of the Pritzker exhibition Ian Collins will deliver an
opening lecture on the exhibition on May 18. The lecture will highlight Rhoda
Pritzker’s broad and singular aesthetic as a collector of twentieth-century British
paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints, demonstrating her fondness for
contemporary creativity and for works that reminded her of her roots in northwest
England. In this lecture, Collins will consider how Pritzker’s background, character,
and wide interests informed her unique taste in art.
CREDITS
Modernism and Memory: Rhoda Pritzker and the Art of Collecting has been organized
by the Yale Center for British Art and curated by Ian Collins, independent curator
and writer. The organizing curator at the Center is Scott Wilcox, Deputy Director for
Collections, with assistance from Samuel Shaw, Postdoctoral Research Associate in
the Department of Prints and Drawings.
PUBLICATION
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, published by the
Center in association with Yale University Press and edited by Ian Collins and
Eleanor Hughes, Deputy Director for Art & Program at the Walters Art Museum.
The book features a preface by Margo Howard and essays by Collins, Frances
Spalding, Samuel Shaw, and Eric Stryker.
Portions of the text in this press release are drawn from Collins’s essay “Home
Thoughts from Abroad: Rhoda Pritzker’s Life in Art,” featured in the exhibition
catalogue.
about the yale center for british art
The Yale Center for British Art houses the largest collection of British art outside the
United Kingdom. Presented to the university by Paul Mellon (Yale College, Class
of 1929), the collection reflects the development of British art and culture from the
Elizabethan period onward. The Center’s collections include more than 2,000 paint-
ings and 250 sculptures, 20,000 drawings and watercolors, 40,000 prints and 35,000
rare books and manuscripts. More than 40,000 volumes supporting research in Brit-
ish art and related fields are available in the Center’s library.
Visit the institution online at britishart.yale.edu.
modernism and memoryMay 11–August 21, 2016
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# # #
press contacts:
yale center for british art
Betsy Kim: +1 203 432 2853 | [email protected]
Ronnie Rysz: +1 203 436 3429 | [email protected]
polskin arts & communications counselors
Meryl Feinstein: +1 212 715 1625 | [email protected]
Katherine Orsini Slovik: +1 212 715 1594 | [email protected]
modernism and memoryMay 11–August 21, 2016
Images: John Minton, Portrait of a Young Man Seated, 1950, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of the Libra Foundation, from the family of Nicholas and Susan Pritzker, © Royal College of Art; Reg Butler, Study for Italian Girl I, 1960, bronze, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of the Libra Foundation, from the family of Nicholas and Susan Pritzker, © Estate of Reg Butler; Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell at Her Easel, 1914, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of the Libra Foundation, from the family of Nicholas and Susan Pritzker, © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London; F. E. McWilliam, Seated Woman with Hat, 1953, bronze, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of the Libra Foundation, from the family of Nicholas and Susan Pritzker, © Estate of F. E. McWilliam; L. S. Lowry, The Market Place, 1952, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of Nicholas Pritzker, © The Estate of L. S. Lowry. All Rights Reserved, DACS / ARS 2015; Rhoda Pritzker, early 1940s, Collection of Nicholas and Susan Pritzker; David Holt, Coastal Watcher, 1963, oil on panel, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of the Libra Foundation, from the family of Nicholas and Susan Pritzker, © Estate of the Artist; Anthony Caro, Corner Boy, 1956, bronze, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of the Libra Foundation, from the family of Nicholas and Susan Pritzker, Courtesy of Barford Sculptures Ltd.; John Min-ton, Cornish Landscape, 1946, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of George E. Dix, Yale BA 1934, MA 1942, © Royal College of Art; Yale Center for Brtish Art, photo by Richard Caspole.
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